Just Goofing Around

It seems I’ve been pretty busy doing all sorts of things lately, except sewing. Well, I have been doing some sewing, so that’s not entirely accurate. But there were two or three days where I never even made it downstairs into the studio. 

Last Saturday, I added small white borders to the Bright Blocks quilt. I’ll show that momentarily. I also cut out pieces for some of my green March blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. On Sunday when my friend Ruby and Cousin Kim were here to sew, I got those mostly sewn up. Let’s take a look.

Eleven Little Bricks blocks. This is such a delightful and easy block that several of us are doing this year. The block is courtesy of Sylvia at Treadlestitches.

I started making these Little Bricks mid-year last year, so these will be added to that pile which already includes some green blocks. The more, the merrier!

On Monday, I finished these Four in Nine blocks while I waited for our housekeeper to show up. She kept pushing our time back, and finally ended up rescheduling for Wednesday afternoon. But I did get the laundry and these blocks done while I waited.

The first two have gray as the dark constant.

The next four have navy as the dark constant.

Tuesday was my weekly Weight Watchers workshop (lost another pound and a half). And then I put together these six Chaser blocks, a block from Cynthia Brunz of Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.  I’m using black prints on these to supplement the color of the month. Must whittle down the black scraps!

These went together very quickly, so I also sandwiched up the Bright Blocks quilt top and got it ready for quilting.  I usually layer up three or four quilt tops at once, but I was feeling restless and unfocused. So I went upstairs and spent the afternoon shopping online and ordering some long-sleeve sweaters, short-sleeve summer tops, a nightgown, a sundress, two pairs of shoes and a belt. Back in January I had ordered two sundresses and two summer tops, and they all fit and were keepers. So I was emboldened to try it again. The only thing that arrived this week (so quick!) was a pair of white sneakers for summer. They fit like a glove and are so dang comfortable. 

Wednesday morning we had our semi-annual dentist visit and cleaning. No cavities or other issues - YAY! Our housekeeper had to cancel again, so we did our monthly Costco run in the afternoon.

On Thursday I quilted and bound the  Bright Blocks top, and Thursday night we went out to dinner with son Ryan, DIL Kim, DGD Lauren and her boyfriend Graham. We always celebrate Ryan’ s birthday and mine together since they’re only five days apart. 

Here is Bright Blocks, which finished at 40x50” and will go to Quilts for Kids.

So you may remember my dilemma with that basket in the top center block. It was a white fabric with tiny colored polka dots, and I asked you guys if I would replace that fabric or ???  Wanda was the first to reply with the idea of adding to the basket with a colored marker to visually beef it up, and several of you echoed the idea. So that’s what I did, and I’m so pleased with the result.

I just added more polka dots with a fine-tipped orange permanent marker. Et voila!

Here’s the backing, which is so perfect color-wise that I’m still pinching myself. 

And that’s it for the sewing this week. Yesterday morning we did the grocery shopping, then in the afternoon we went to the Home and Garden Show at the South Towne Expo Center. It was more home-related stuff and less about garden stuff, but we did get some literature and referrals for some possible outdoor projects (cement resurfacing and xeriscaping) for this year.  

While there, we ran into the son (and grandson) of one of Bruce’s best friends who played with him for 50 years in their folk trio, The Muddy Gutter Boys. Lane (on the right) snapped a picture of us all. It was so good to see them!

Yes, my hair was up and it looked like hell. But in my defense, we had strong winds all day, gusting up to 40mph, and we had to walk into the wind from the parking lot to the expo center. Whew! We walked the entire show - great exercise - and then it was back out into the wind. 

And that was my week. It started raining last night and is supposed to continue all weekend. So, if you need me, I’ll be down in the studio quilting.